No way forward for out traffic lights
HONEYDEW - Jra pleads community's patience with the traffic lights out of order.
For almost two months now, Christiaan de Wet Road users have been dealing with non-functional traffic lights. Traffic lights have been out on the intersections of Blueberry, Paul Kruger and Christiaan de Wet roads in Honeydew.
Radiokop resident Jono Calder, who is one of the regular users of this road, says he doesn’t understand how the traffic lights can go on for this long unfixed. “It’s ridiculous that robots that have worked for more than 10 years now all of a sudden don’t and this has been over eight weeks.”
Calder mentioned that he logged a call with the Johannesburg Roads Agency to have traffic lights fixed with no success. He sent an email to JRA almost five weeks ago and he never received a response from them. “They are completely useless if you ask me. I am almost certain that people lost their lives at these robots last weekend as the debris tells a story.”
Another road user Mpho Ntuli attested to Calder’s statement. “There are at least three accidents weekly occurring between the two intersections.”
Being stuck in traffic is one of the frustrations that motorists have to deal with because of the non-functional traffic lights. “Sometimes I get stuck between the two intersections for more than 25 minutes,” said Calder. He added that though Outsurance pointsmen are assisting with traffic control, they are only there between 7.30am and 5.30pm. “It is chaotic when they are not there.”
Spokesperson for Johannesburg Roads Agency Bertha Peters-Scheepers said they were aware of the traffic lights situation. The Christiaan de Wet and Paul Kruger/Scott Avenue traffic lights have no power. She said the matter has been reported to City Power and they await their feedback. No comment was immediately available from City Power on when they will restore power to the traffic lights on the said intersection.
She further mentioned that the signal cables on the intersection of Blueberry and Christiaan de Wet roads were damaged by contractors who are busy with the widening of the road. “We are currently unable to replace the cables with the ongoing construction and request the community’s patience until the matter can be attended to.”
A contractor working on the intersection gave a different account though. He said the traffic lights were out due to cable theft and not because they damaged them, as reported.
